The programme of the 26th edition of the Mercat de Música Viva de Vic, which will take place from the 18th to the 21st of September, features 57 concerts, approximately 20 of which will be official premieres of new musical recordings, as was revealed by the Festival’s Artistic Director, Marc Lloret, at a press conference on June 12th at Estrella Damm’s historical old factory premises. The presentation was also attended by the Generalitat de Catalunya’s Minister for Culture, Ferran Mascarell, and Vic City Council’s Fairs, Markets and Exports Councillor, Montserrat Rovira
One of the main premieres is the official opening concert by Roger Mas and Benjamim Taubkin, which, in the words of Marc Lloret, promises “an amazing performance that constitutes a meeting point between Catalonia and Brasil”. The songs of Roger Mas will sound with the rhythm of the Brasilian musician Benjamin Taubkin.
Other noteworthy premieres in the coming edition include artists and bands with extensive careers and solid fan bases such as Adrià Puntí, Raimundo Amador, Marlango and Kepa Junkera in addition to other musical products of diverse genres and origins such as Ian Sala, The Mamzelles, Miquel Serra, Ocellot, Hombres Bala, Pau Vallvé, Marc Parrot, Brighton 64, Anna Roig i l’ombre de ton chien, Toni Xuclà, Germà Aire, Beach Beach, Eskorzo, Fundación Tony Manero, 17 hippies and Zebda.
Performances by Catalan bands make up almost 50% of the programme and the other half will include Spanish and international artists. As for musical styles, Lloret also emphasised that, in this edition, there will be a greater presence of jazz and world music with the aim of striking a balance in terms of the range of styles and genres offered by the Mercat programme.
As is customary, in addition to the sectors open to the public, there will also be professional meetings, such as MVLab, which will bring together concert promoters, institutions, festivals and businesses, among other organisations, in an attempt to promote and boost bookings.
The Mercat festival will also continue with its Off programme, which will be featuring the semi-finals of Sona 9 on Saturday night and the presentation of young bands from Osona, VicSona, on Sunday evening.
Novelties
One of the novelties of this year’s edition is Fira Music, an opportunity to buy and sell new and used instruments, which will be located beside the MMVV pavilion, the Recinte Firal and El Sucre, and will be open from Friday to Sunday.
The Mercat de Música Viva de Vic will also be presenting an audio installation by Xavier Losas, winner of the Puig Porret Award, 2013, which will be open to visitors throughout the week, at the Temple Romà (Roman Temple) venue. The Temple Romà will also be featuring two concert performances by Nautilus Lab and Quartet Brossa on Saturday.
With the aim of establishing a link with one of the world’s most prestigious international music festivals, World Music Expo (Womex), which this year will be held in Santiago de Compostela, MMVV has programmed an evening entitled Atlantic Connection at the Plaça de la Catedral venue, which will be featuring performances by Primitive Reason, Oreka TX and O sonoro maxin, from Portugal, the Basque Country and Galicia respectively, with the aim of showing the multiplicity of musical offerings throughout the peninsula.
Financial impact
Montserrat Rovira, Vic’s City Councillor for Fairs, Markets and Exports, pointed out that the MMVV fair has a significant financial impact on the music industry which, according to a study by the Open University of Catalunya (UOC), rose to 2,600,000 euros in 2012 with over 500 bookings. While the exact figure for 2013 is not yet available, the impact is likely to be fractionally higher.
In reference to the importance of MMVV in terms of its capacity to energise the contracting of cultural events, and given the current situation, the Generalitat de Catalunya’s Culture Minister, Ferran Mascarell was emphatic, “If it did not exist, we would have to create it”.
